''Magnolia sulawesiana'' is a large evergreen tree of the family

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: ''Magnolia'' and '' Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), t ...

that grows in tropical

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

forests on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Description

This is a large, evergreen tree, up to 35 m tall and with a dbh of up to 100 cm. As with all other species of ''Magnolia'', the twigs have stipules that enclose the twig tips and leave conspicuous circular scars after falling off. The leaves are spirally arranged, usually oblong, rather small for a ''Magnolia'' (usually 6-9 x 3–4.5 cm) and, like the other parts of the plant, almost completely glabrous. Only on the upper side of the petiole and on the lower side of the lamina, next to the midrib, there is a thin, but conspicuous line of brown hairs. The flowers are solitary on short stalks in the leaf-axils, have a diameter of c. 4 cm and white

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

. The fruits consist of 8-11 apocarpous carpels that release the seeds at maturity. The combination of the hairs, flower position and low number of carpels is unique for the species and can be used to distinguish ''M. sulawesiana'' from all other species of ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

'' in Sulawesi.

Distribution and ecology

The species in only known from three sites, all located in the central mountain range of Sulawesi, including

Lore Lindu National Park Lore Lindu National Park is a protected area of forest on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, in the province of Central Sulawesi. The Indonesian national park is 2,180 km2 covering both lowland and montane forests (200 to 2,610 meters ab ...

. There, it forms part of the canopy in moist

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

montane forests at elevations of . It is currently the only species of ''

'' considered

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Sulawesi.

Uses

While other species of ''Magnolia'', such as '' M. tsiampacca'' and '' M. vrieseana'', are much sought after for their valuable timber, ''M. sulawesiana'' is currently not known to be exploited. This is possibly due to its occurrence at remote locations and high elevations.

References

External links

* ''Magnolia sulawesiana'' on Wikispecies
''Magnolia sulawesiana'' in Kew`s World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20817869 sulawesiana Paleotropical flora Endemic flora of Sulawesi